Is SW early bird worth the 12.50?

There is no false advertising here. SW does not tell you that if you buy EBCI you'll get an A boarding spot. That is no longer something one can assume. Most of us, that understand how it works, buy it for convenience, or to get a jump on those not buying it. Without it, you are almost assured of getting into the late B group. SW tells us that you are checked in before those not paying for EBCI. Below is what SW states on their site......

What do I get?
AUTOMATIC CHECK-IN
Whether you choose to print your boarding pass the day before or just hours before the flight, your confirmed boarding position will be ready and waiting for you. Now you can print your boarding pass as your schedule allows.
BETTER BOARDING POSITION
We'll automatically check you in and assign your boarding position within 36 hours of your flight's departure - that's 12 hours before general boarding positions become available. While EarlyBird Check-In doesn't guarantee an A boarding position, it improves your seat selection options to help you get your favorite seat.
EARLIER ACCESS TO OVERHEAD BINS
Got bags? We've got room. By boarding earlier you'll get your pick of available overhead bin space.

So....no false advertising here. They actually say you may not get an A spot.

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Welll...

It's the "business traveler" commercial that is HORRIDLY misleading.

First they claim the "business traveler" pays for luggage. Nope, most of them either (A) are frequent flyers and get free luggage or (B) thier company pays so they don't care

Then they claim the same about seat assignments once again (A) or (B)

But 90% of the business travelers I know are NOT subject to the issues SW claims they "save us from" Not to mention that SW actually refuses to play with the TSA precheck so they actually submit us to more TSA hassle LOL (They never show that do they, be a business traveler on Delta and you can get a 'fast pass' to the worse part of the airport expereince, but on SW that's not happening)

So the "advantage" SW "advertises" on thier "look at him being knocked down commerical" is "SW hype" not "reality"

IMHO it's not false it's just misleading, but wrong (not to mention it's a stupid add, who wrote it a 5 year old???)

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You will, most likely, be split up. But, you can still board together. Let's say one person gets A38, second person gets A49, third gets A60, fourth gets B3. You can all go back to the B group, and get in line with the B3 person, allowing everyone between A38 and B2 move up to fill in the three empty slots.
Or just move two people...probably parents, back to be next to a child.
Or pay for the 2 EBCI, save that one middle seat for one of the kids boarding later, and a parent takes any old single seat they find.

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We always buy EBCI now, but in the past if we had to check in while in a park we would go to guest relations and check in on a computer there, and print our boarding passes.

one more (silly) question.... if I get EBCI for a connecting flight, do they automatically check us in to both legs of our flight? (I don't do connecting often)
no wait,I have one more,if I buy EBCI,and change the flight (fare drop,etc) will it transfer to the changed flight,or do I lose out?

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Check-in for all legs of your flight will be done at T-36 from the scheduled departure time of the first leg of your flight. This means that you're checked in for your connecting flight before those who are starting their trips at your connecting city.

If you just do a change to your itinerary to get the credit and maintain your same confirmation number then you will still have EBCI for your flight. If you cancel and rebook (this is necessarily for DING fares, not that they seem to be worthwhile these days for the few DINGs that actually show up) resulting in a different confirmation number then you will lose your EBCI.

We just arrived back yesterday from Orlando and both our flights were totally full. We were a party of 4(2A, 2C ages 8 and 10). I didn't pay for EBCI for our flight down or back. For our flight down I checked in right at the 24 hour mark and got B24-28. We had no problem getting any seat(just toward the middle/back of the plane). On our flight back we were at the park at the 24 hour mark and it totally slipped my mind so we checked in at the 27ish hour mark and got B55-58. We had our choice of seats, but in the last 4 rows of the plane. We choose to split up a bit and ended up in the middle of the plane, but all within a row of one another.

I really don't see the point in buying EBCI unless you absolutely want to be at the front of the plane or have a window seat in the front/middle of the plane. I personally sat in an isle seat for the first time and loved it!

I think its a crap shoot. Last month I did not buy it and I ended up changing my ticket at the last minute to a flight that left MCO in 6 hours. I thought for sure I would get a C boarding since I was checking in 6 hours before the flight left. NOPE I got an A group.

We always buy EBCI now, but in the past if we had to check in while in a park we would go to guest relations and check in on a computer there, and print our boarding passes.

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I would never have thought of doing that! I didn't realise they would actually allow us to use their computers!!

we bit the bullet and paid for EBCI for my DH and DD. They'll go in and snag a row of seats. My DS can join them later and grab the middle seat of their row. I'll get on whenever (I'll check DS and myself in at 24 hrs) and grab a seat wherever.

We would have stuck with the 24 check in mark - but we have 4 separate reservations and trying to juggle 4 of them on smartphones in a park (and we're hoping to go to Typhoon Lagoon) would be endlessly annoying.